Catherine (Holsman) Coster (1778-1847)

Mrs Catherine Margaret (Holsman) Coster

She grew up between New York and New Jersey. Before marrying her father, Catherine's mother had been the wife of Pierre Lorillard I, the founder of the Lorillard Tobacco Company, and therefore Catherine was the half-sister of Pierre Lorillard II etc. Aside from being married to John G. Coster - one of New York's first five millionaires - Catherine also received a one-sixth share of her unmarried half-brother's (George Lorillard's) estate which consisted of, "upward of four hundred houses, stores, and blocks of property in the city, and is valued at upward of $3 million". Her husband had enjoyed an untarnished reputation as a merchant, but as a father it was said: "His immense wealth has made him conspicuous... Mr. C has been rather too indulgent a parent; but immense wealth in the hands of a parent is apt to make children careless". 

Parents

John Holsman

John Holsman, Merchant, of New York City

d.1795

Catherine (Moore) Holsman

Mrs Catherine (Moore) Lorillard, Holsman

1745-1832

Spouse

John Gerard Coster

John G. Coster, Merchant, of the Brothers Coster, New York City

1762-1844

Children

Maria (Coster) Berryman

Mrs Maria Margaret (Coster) Berryman

1798-1835

John Henry Coster

John H. Coster, of "Washington Hall" New York City

1800-1861

Henrietta Taletta Coster

Henrietta Taletta Coster, presumed to have died young

b.c.1802

Daniel Joachim Coster

Daniel J. Coster, of New York City

b.c.1804

Gerard Holsman Coster

Gerard H. Coster, Merchant, of Coster & Carpenter, New York City

1808-1880

Georgiana (Coster) Heckscher

Mrs Georgiana Louisa (Coster) Heckscher

1815-1890

George Washington Coster

George Washington Coster, of New York City

b.c.1816

Julia (Coster) Reubell

Mrs Julia Christiana (Coster) Reubell, of Paris

c.1818-1884

Henry Arnold Coster

Henry Arnold Coster, of New York City

1820-c.1863

Associated Houses

Coster Mansion

579 Broadway, New York

Image Courtesy of the Frick Art Reference Library; The Lost Coster Mansion, DaytoninManhattan; The Old Merchants of New York City (1864) by Walter Barrett; Social Control of Wealth in Antebellum New York (2017), by William P. LaPiana, New York Law School